Sebastien Angel | A ban on laptops in class?

In a ranking of classroom annoyances, I'd put laptops near where I put cell phones. That is to say, I couldn't care less about them.

Maybe I was born with thick skin, but I don't feel that my lecture experience is impugned when some guy three rows ahead of mine starts chatting on AIM.

As for cell phones, they produce a muffled, mildly irritating noise a maximum of once or twice per class. And the annoyance from hearing someone's Shakira ringtone is counterbalanced by the humor in watching her rifle through her handbag, desperately trying to turn her phone off as hundreds of pairs of eyes stare at her in an extended silence.

But I understand that some people get peeved about it. So, when I head to a morning lecture, I leave my laptop at home and turn my phone off.

Particularly in David Grazian's "Media and Popular Culture" class. Grazian's reaction to a cell phone ring is always good for a laugh. First, he casually remarks, "Hey . that's a great ringtone!" Then, he lets the awkward silence fester, ensuring maximum embarrassment for whoever has "Hips Don't Lie" on her phone.

Grazian isn't shy about keeping his lectures distraction-free, so it came as no surprise when he banned laptops from his class on Monday of last week.

"It would be very easy for me . to see multiple students crowded around a laptop, obviously more focused on what was on the screen than the lecture," he explained afterward. "If they want to do that at home, that's fine. But it's disruptive to me, and it's disruptive to other students in the class."

Grazian acknowledges the value of the laptop as a tool for taking notes, he said, and he rescinded his ban a couple of days later. He doesn't approve of the use of laptops for any other purpose, such as exploring links relevant to the course material.

The change was particularly upsetting to A.J. Schiera, a College sophomore who said he only uses his laptop to take notes.

"I was upset that other members of the class were using [laptops] in ways that were distracting other" students, he said. "At the same time, just to announce that in the middle of classes put some of us in a difficult position."

I won't try to change anyone's views on using laptops in class, for work or for play. But I do think those students who goof off on laptops in class demonstrate something that's telling about lecture-based classes in the Information Age.

It's easy to paint people who spend most of class time online as a bunch of careless malcontents, but I don't think that's true. As Grazian notes, these people could just as easily browse YouTube.com in the comfort of their own homes. Instead, they go to class, demonstrating that they have at least a cursory interest in learning the material or getting a good grade.

When a serious student logs on during class, that student is making a conscious decision. He believes he has enough of a handle on his class or lecture that he can afford not to give his full attention to it and still meet his academic goals.

And when students are taking out their laptops more and more, perhaps that's a reflection not just of the rising popularity of new technology but of the declining value of the lecture.

In all of the lecture classes I've had at Penn, students have been able to log on to Blackboard before class, find the professor's lecture notes (often a very detailed outline of what will be covered) and print them out. If you bring the notes to class, you may only need to scribble a few more things down for the entire lecture.

So in classes where this is commonplace, students' workload in lectures gets much, much lighter than if they were seeing everything for the first (and only) time. It's not surprising that as simplifying accommodations such as this are becoming more and more popular, students are paying less and less attention on average.

The issue ought not to be whether to ban laptops or allow them. Instead, how about addressing the real problem at hand - why do people who come to class feel compelled to play Solitaire while they're there?

Sebastien Angel is a College sophomore from Worcester, Mass. His e-mail address is angel@dailypennsylvanian.com. Overnight Celebrity appears on Wednesdays.

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